[NewMusic] game-lickers wake up

[Sarah - 21 Grand]

from Mr. Brinkley's broadside:
C'mon stop lying to yourselves (let's review)---the
locus of the video game milieu is not art--it is
commerce.
the enterprise is a commercial endeavor. the entities
who do the funding want to MAKE MORE MONEY.
and the product is not a piece of ART, it is a
COMMERCIAL product. sure, there is a "creativity
component" in the milieu and in the product--which
makes working conditions slightly more tolerable and
which serves to LEGITIMIZE the product as an art-like
object. Apparently a bunch of you are fooled.

-- I would argue, at least in theory, one could create a video game that is
art, or more specifically, one where the aesthetic, personal, for lack of a
better word "vision" is paramount vs. the commercial aspects, and that is
produced outside of the commercial realm. This has also probably already
been done, whether funded by a museum, art patron, or an academic
institution. 

To some extent this is a similar problem to that which faced film and video
decades ago. Most works in these media were commercial products, financed by
large corporations, and served to reinforce this country's power structure.
The majority of what people see, even today, still fit that profile. This
past summer's semi-animated blockbuster "300" was probably one of the
largest budget recruitment ads for the US Military produced to date. (Don't
get me started on Tom Hanks' feature-length Fed Ex commercial from several
years ago.) However, there is a larger number and increased profile of film
and video artworks, that yes, is partly due to technological innovation. (Of
course the flipside is more mediocre crap. Corporations are not the only
ones responsible for the generation of mediocre cultural crap. But I do
advocate for the underfunded individual to be able to make their own
mediocre cultural crap and for people to be able to experience it.)

However, I agree with Matt Goodheart (at least I think you made this point,
Matt) that the video game form is definitely at a disadvantage in terms of
being "art" by its formal structure and technological production
requirements.

sl